She's a big Harry Potter fan for a particular reason, was in charge of a competition at the 1996 Olympics in Georgia, has won some gold herself -- and she's not even an athlete.

It might surprise the jocks among us, but the Olympics are not all physical: There are cultural events as well, and in one of them, Nancy Clark of Marstons Mills truly excels.

She is a dyed-in-the-wool philatelist originally from Maine who learned about stamp collecting on her father's lap, so to speak, and but for a break as a teen has devoted much of her life to postal pursuits.

She was in charge of the Olymphilex stamp show that was part of the 1996 summer Olympics in Atlanta and has won national gold (and platinum) in postal history, postal stationery and illustrated mail and thematic classes as a stamp exhibitor.

She wants the U.S. to issue a Harry Potter stamp series because, she said, "He's brought so many kids back to reading. We belong to the Wood Hole Yacht Club -- not a fancy place where you want your daughter to get married -- just a small club, and I've seen teenagers around there engrossed in Harry Potter books." The seventh and final book goes on sale locally tomorrow.

Many countries have issued Potter stamps already, while the U.S. hasn't, she said. Collecting Harry Potter stamps would help teach grandchildren about the literary phenomenon in later years.

Clark also collects postal curiosities like auxiliary markings, such as one noting the letter had been sunk with the ship carrying it, then recovered, or one that was partially destroyed in a fire.

"I couldn't begin to tell you how many postal items are in my collections," she said, most of which are kept in a safe away from her home, "but you'd be in the ballpark at over 100,000."

Her husband, Doug, a retired mathematics professor at the University of Georgia, is also a stamp collector and an accredited judge. "We met at a stamp show," she said.

When they decided to retire, Clark said her husband wouldn't have appreciated the snow in her native Maine, and as his family had long summered on Cape Cod, they chose the peninsula.

"When we found this house, we learned there had been a small building on the front lawn there," she pointed out, "that was once a post office. That sealed the deal."

Most recently, Clark was named winner of the Ernest A. Kehr "Future of Philately" award presented by the 50,000-member American Philately Society (albeit there are about 200,000 serious collectors in the country) for "enduring contributions to the future of the hobby," an award not easily earned.

It attests to Clark's substantial three-page resume (single space) peppered with activities she either initiated or supports, such as American Philately Society summer seminar scholarships, developing youth judging guidelines, and mostly advocating for and teaching history herself using stamps throughout her own career as a teacher to advance the hobby.

Sitting on the multi-columned porch of her home, the former Gifford Farm on Route 149, Clark, an award-winning exhibitor and an accredited national and international judge, verbally lifts the curtain on the unique pastime so rich in history.

She unfolds a letter from 1800 that was mailed from Amsterdam to Providence, R.I., that she recently acquired, but not for the stamp, because it pre-dates postal stamps.

"Before stamps," she explains, showing early letters from the area, "the recipient would pay the mail carrier, for example, five cents. But if the sender pre-paid, as we do today, it was only 3 cents." The letters had no envelopes, just folded paper, "and you paid by the page," she said, so larger pages were used.

She says people used the mail system as they used collect calls on the telephone in later years to send signals, "as you would call someone you had visited to let them know you had arrived back home safely and hang up before charges could be accrued."

She said letters would be sent with codes, the recipient would read the code, return the letter to the carrier and say they didn't want it. "But the carriers eventually caught on. They would cover the letter with their hands and not give it to the recipient until they collected the fee."

For the record, philately -- whose pronunciation (fill et' a lee) escapes most laymen -- is from the Greek "philos" meaning "friend" -- and "ateleia" meaning "exempt from charge," or "franked," that is, putting an official mark on a piece of mail so it can be sent free of charge, as in Congressional mail.

Philately is more profound than just stamp collecting. It is the study of revenue or postage stamps, broken up into technical (how the stamp is made, type of printing and paper, etc.) and topical, what it represents historically.

Clark has devoted much of her time promoting stamp collection as a learning tool for children. For example, she says collecting the Lewis and Clark series introduces children to new people and places of historic significance. "But there should be a stamp for York, (Captain Clark's manservant,)" she said, as there are stamps (and coins) of Sacagawea, the Indian maiden who helped the pioneers on their historic journey.

There are numerous Benjamin Franklin stamps from various countries showing him with the famous kite, bifocals he invented or as a diplomat and, Clark said, "we can take each one of these stamps and teach its historical significance of what it depicts."

Clark's resume, and her tangent knowledge of history, could itself fill a book. She has held leadership positions in most philately organizations, served on many committees, founded and helped organize groups including the fledgling Cape Cod Area Philatelic Group and has traveled extensively as a juror in this country and to exotic places as Indonesia, Belgium, and Bangkok.

She was youth chair at the Washington 2006 international stamp exhibition and coordinated youth areas for Olympic stamp shows in Atlanta in 1996 and in Salt Lake City in 2002. She has also trained postal employees and philatelists to work with young people.

Her teaching experience includes instruction in music education for students K-8 in New Jersey and New York, English in Georgia, and tutoring students challenged with dyslexia. She also has worked as a private music teacher and church music director.

Clark credits her father with rekindling her interest in philately. "He would ask me to look at stamps for him because his aging eyes were failing," she said, "and that got me back into it."

Her interest has lasted 30 years and is still going strong. Clark and her husband are in demand as judges at shows and of books on philately, she continues to serve on various committees, including the town historical commission, has lectured locally, is currently busy with her husband judging a slew of books on stamps, and hosts the American Philately Society Talk show twice weekly on ws.Radio.com.

She says anyone interested in stamp collecting is welcome to stop by one of the Cape Cod Philatelic Group meetings at 6:30 p.m., the fourth Wednesday of the month, in the community room of Channel 17, White's Path, South Yarmouth.

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